Does WWE Have A Race Problem? The Atlantic Believes It Does

The Atlantic has an article online examining the race problem in WWE. While it’s something WWE will quickly claim doesn’t exist, the author backs all of his claims with indisputable evidence suggesting the contrary.

The author begins by explaining Rusev’s recent success against black wrestlers before pointing out that WWE has never had a black wrestler hold its world championship (which is not entirely true because The Rock is half black). Mark Henry is mentioned and it’s highlighted he’s a former ECW Champion and World Heavyweight Champion but never a WWE Champion.

July 11, 2014 10:42 AM EDT Update:The Atlantic has updated their article by 1) mentioning The Rock as WWE Champion and 2) including a statement from WWE. You can click the link below to read both. End update.

Then, a past racially-charged storyline between Triple H and Booker T is explained before what I found to be some of the most intriguing analysis of the piece.

Below is an excerpt:

WWE currently employs 12 black wrestlers. There are three character situations to be found among them:

1. The performer plays or has played a character based on a racial stereotype.

2. The performer does not have any discernible character.

3. The performer is largely absent from television and/or has never played a significant role in WWE’s fictional universe.

The past gimmicks of JTG and Ron Simmons are analyzed before shifting to Alicia Fox and then a look at the treatment of other racial minorities with the example of Los Matadores.

The author then looks at past controversy involving Michael Hayes and racism before shifting to TNA Wrestling and their world title. Lashley and Ron Killings were world champions in TNA (with Killings’ reign being when the TNA world title was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance) but never in WWE.

Richard Reacts: I am a 29-year old straight white man living in the United States of America. It’s not easy for me to sit and talk about discrimination on any level because I haven’t experienced it. The issue of discrimination is something that many tiptoe around but this article was well put together and the author was very informed. That said, I’m not going to start throwing stones and declaring Vince McMahon a bigot, either. However, these are issues that should be brought to light and the fans can be the judge. I’d love to hear from minorities here. Do you feel WWE has a race problem? Why or why not?

Connect With WNW

Read the article. The author looks at him. An ECW Champion and World Heavyweight Champion but never a WWE Champion.

Scott Davies

The World Title was under WWE. There for its a WWE Title. Just like the WWE Title is a world title. They are named different but are the same thing.

http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/ Richard Gray

That’s a copout though. The WWE title > World title, under all scenarios. Again, I’m not saying WWE is a racist organization intent on burying people of color. However, this issue can’t be dismissed by naming The Rock or Mark Henry’s reigns and shutting the door. What about how the current 12 black wrestlers are booked? That’s pretty spot on…

Scott Davies

But its not about race. Its about who draws. You see the ratings that WWE gets in & at what segments. But its also a cop out to The Rock to say he was only WWE Champion because he was part black & WWE did not want to be racist. I don’t think it was that at all. Mark Henry was on Smack down when the brands was still in effect & the main title on that show was The World Heavyweight Championship. I mean if the WWE happened to be on Smackdown he would have no doubt be WWE Champion. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. If a black man wants to be WWE Champion draw the ratings for Vince McMahon to the point he has no choice like he did Daniel Bryan.

Chris

The point is that the World Heavyweight title was always seen as a secondary to the WWE title. Just look at the Daniel Bryan storyline where he’s been WHC, but the means nothing next to the WWE title. Pretty accurate point.

Josh

There has been maybe three main event talents in Henry, Booker and half The Rock. That’s it. Find a other one and I’m impressed.

Nick k

Racism it’s like the only thing we hear about nowadays and quite frankly it’s a played put topic. Does it exist? Of course it does but it’s not exclusive to white people being racist against black people in fact I’ve only witnessed one act of racism in my life and it was against me, I was repeatedly asked why I’m so white over and over by a group of black girls while I was in high school they also pushed my several times completely unprovoked. It’s become clear that pulling the race card is only making the situation worse in society and I think a lot of people are sick of it. It’s always going to exist but in today’s climate it’s barely even a shell of what it once was.

http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/ Richard Gray

Racism goes both ways, there’s no doubt. However, I have a pet peeve about this. Sometimes when someone makes a racist comment, they’re countered with another racist comment. For example, when Donald Sterling’s craziness was in the news, I saw people alleging Jay-Z is a racist or pointed towards a black person being racist. Racism is ugly, regardless of who is the victim. But is there a problem in WWE? I like to think there isn’t but the author raises valid points with a well-researched piece.

K!NG

Richard how come you didn’t post a article on the Vince And Linda McMahon foundation donating a 1 million dollars to the Greenwich Hospital to go towards new technology to help detect breast cancer? i i always see more articles on the negative stuff in the wrestling world and when something good like this happens it goes untold.

jim

because a racist can donate money just like anyone else. who cares,they got the tax write off.

K!NG

This is has nothing to do with racism it has to do with selective journalism.

morbo

Actually its because people find it a lot easier to complain than to give credit where its due, if someone does something bad like say the n word but give millions to charity hes gonna be remembered more for saying the n word even though the positive greatly outweighs the negative, people especially celebrities are often defined by their lowest moment no matter how high theyve been

live1213

It’s true but, u missing the point he’s not being racist the story lines to promote black wrestler are Vince will never say I need u to play a slave wrestler but, if he can get one to do so to say from slavery to world champion to get the feel good type story and ratings he will it’s just finding that black man I’m sure 100,000.00 a year someone would.

Larry Hicks

OK that was the most ignorant , and yes racist thing i have ever heard, so just make DJANGO UNCHAINED a character, are u kidding me
and hope it gets over, that the point the we in the black community who watch wrestling noticed this for years , and the fact that wwe down play his black side,(and yes they do, hell we know didn’t his closest friends are black, till i saw a interview, about one of them, wwe down plays it. usos’s i thought where half black, but most people don’t know that. why wwe doesn’t even acknowledge it. the only reason we know he is black is because his father was in the bussiness. If his father was normal guy, they would never show or even bring up his black side.

live1213

Hold up I didn’t say it was right I said if it draw ratings he would do it number 1 number 2 if u can get mark Henry to play sexy chocolate money would make anything happen may father white my mother black I know both sides Vince not a racist but if it make money he will get a black man to act a fool.

MadDawg

Thanks for running this Richard. When I sent it to you, I honestly never thought it would see WNW coverage.

http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/ Richard Gray

I’m glad you sent it. Very well written.

Scott Davies

But then you have other sterio types like Hispanic WWE Champions, Italian Champions. But its not the race. Its how they get over. I’m sure if a Black man were to draw record ratings. Vince McMahon would make them WWE Champion & to not count The Rock & say he is just a scape goat to me is disrespectful to The Rock.

http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/ Richard Gray

I’m not trying to dismiss The Rock in the slightest. There’s Hogan then there’s Rock and Austin. What I’m saying is, the success of The Rock doesn’t dismiss the questionable manner in which black wrestlers have been booked in WWE. Again, I’m not on the “WWE is racist” side but I believe these issues deserve a fair look. I’d like to hear from more minorities.

live1213

Th problem with that is Vince took advantage of the Rock movie potential and let’s face it (just a thought) the Rock embrace his somoan heritage more I think then his black and that come across perfect for the WWE. Mark Henry can come across as your sexy chocolate fool or the Angry black man I don’t think it’s a race problem as long as vince can find a black man to act like a thug, a fool, or unintelligent.

Carlos Avent

I think that it comes down to business and
America’s perception. Is the wrestling world along with WWE’s major investors
and board of Directors ready to fully embrace a 100% African-American male as
their WWE World champion/face of the company? Are the majority American households (white/Caucasian) ready for their 7 year old sons hero to be a 6’5″ 300lbs African-American
man without shades of prejudice or racism? From a business side and for the protection of black WWE performers from
racist attacks, I think WWE is doing (hate to say this) what’s “Best
for Business”. Until America shows that it’s ready to embrace a black man
as the face of the WWE, then I prefer a black man NOT be put in the fire of
racist comments on social media, investors and advertisers pulling out because
the face of the company has changed, etc.

Nick k

You know the president of the United States is black right? That made no sense to say what so ever.

J. Lashley

I am a black male wrestling fan since age 6. I do believe there is a race issue in the WWE. We all know which title reigns supreme between the WWE TITLE and the WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE…. What minority has represented the former properly?? None except The Rock! I believe it’s a case of WWE trying to appeal to te MAJORITY of its fans which consists of The Majority in this country. WHITE MALES.. So I see the marketing strategy. However, it just seems like Vince and wwe feeds “us” a bone every now and then with irrelevant title reigns.. “King booker” x mark Henry didn’t have the MAIN title reign… However, I can argue that MARK HENRY’s reign was the MOST LEGITIMATE reign for a long time!!!

Carlos Avent

And just as the article states, we declare President Barack Obama as the first black president as he has a black father and a white mother. So why do we/WWE stray away from referring to the Rock as the first Black WWE Champion? to be honest, the Samoan heritage is from African decent. His father is a black man of Canadian origin. The Rock is a part of the Black race. But the reason why WWE doesn’t focus on that is because his Samoan heritage of the Anoa’i family is what sells and looks good on paper and in story. Clearly I have 2 sides to my family but I’m mostly always immediately affiliated with my Dad’s side because my Dad’s side is more known in my community.

MadDawg

I think Kofi is a great example of this. He may not have “the look”, but that man can work. Do y’all remember him destroying Randy Orton’s new car? I loved that angle, and it was right about then that his push was completely derailed, and he never saw the main event again.

Anthony

I’m interested to know the races of the members of the creative team. Do you know, Richard?

K!NG

I wonder how the rock feels basically being told no ur not black enough to be considered a black wwe champion. like he never had to deal with racism or anything like any other african american. it just stupid we have to look at things like this

J Vomkrieg

The rock never read as black to me. But that’s because i’m from New Zealand and we have a large pasifika community and very few black people. So because he looked like one of my pasifika friends I always read him as that. It’s funny what cultural bias can do, I was legitimately surprised to hear he was considered a black superstar. But again, thats my own cultural bias coming in to play.

jman72485

Oh I’ve been the victim of racism. I’ve called many racial slurs in the past but I try not to let it get to me. As far as the WWE being racist. I say yes and know by how they portray a few wrestlers like cryme time r truth los matadores even the mexicools, but the WWE has had their share of successful non white wrestlers like the rock mark Henry Booker t eddie guerrero Rey mystero and Alberto del Rio and now possibly Roman reigns.

Nick K

What about the mean street posse? Wussy white rich kids from Connecticut but hey its a white stereotype so it’s ok right?

jman72485

Nah you’re right.

Eric r

I am glad I read that article, I never noticed that there has never been a black WWE champion. I have been watching for years now and never noticed. It’s sad. As an African American gay man this makes me a little upset, But I never noticed until I read the article.

eskymi

I think racism is way over used in this country.

prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone
of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.

The keywords are “belief that one’s own race is superior….”

So I might be critical of other races, but I don’t believe my race is superior, so I ain’t a racist by definition. But we’ll change the definition to meet our needs in today’s society.

So WWE might not push a black wrestler, does that make them racisct? Are you saying that they have made it known that their belief is that white people are superior?

I am so tired that every time a person of any race other than white doesn’t get their way people scream racism. Yet, the poor white guy losses his job, or as happened to me, doesn’t get it because I am NOT a minority it isn’t racism, it’s called affirmative action, or something else.

Scott Reynolds

As a 28 year old African American life long wrestling fan I’ve always noticed that few African Americans. Those who are featured are most often stereotypes but that is not unique to African Americans. Rusev character is a sterotype, almost ever Asian wrestler is sterotypes (Remember when Funaki couldn’t speak english), Somoans were always “Wild Savages” until pretty much the Rock.

Ultimately WWE takes shortcuts and relies on stereotypes to do so.

However the lack of African American WWE Champions is deplorable. Booker T and Ron Simmons both won the WCW title. Ron Simmons was (I believe and please correct me if I am wrong) the first African American World Champion. In his run with the Nation of Domination (hey look another stereotype) he was one of the biggest heels in the Federation and could have justifiably had a WWF Championship run.

Someone said well if a African American could get over they would be champion. Remember Gimmicks Matter! There are 10 active African American wrestlers on the roster (Darren Young is Injured and Booker T is retired). Of the 10 there are 3 divas (Alicia Fox, Cameron and Naomi). If we focus on the 7 active Superstars readers of this website and Richard have praised many of their in ring skills. I have seen Titus O’Neil describe as a future star. Kofi Kingston is flat out one of the best workers in the WWE. R Truth has main event talent. Big E can flat out work and is currently lost because there is no creative vision for him. Xavier Woods has potential and Mark Henry has shown he is consistent and talented. Of these 7 only Mark Henry has a gimmick where he can be taken seriously as a champion.

Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns, Wade Barrett, Bo Dallas and Adam Rose are given gimmicks that 1) get them on TV and 2) get the crowd to react to them. Ask yourself this is Bray Wyatt more talented that Kofi Kingston, Roman Reigns more Talented than Titus O’Neil , Wade Barrett more Talented than Big E or are they given gimmicks that allow them to grab the “brass ring”?

Would Titus O’Neil be over if he had a gimmick that didn’t insist on him not being ready? Would R Truth have had a world title run if his name wasn’t “R Truth” or if he was talking to an invisible child. Would Kofi Kingston be in the main event if he was given a serious gimmick?

The Powers That Be have shown they almost never have confidence and patience with African American Superstars. African American wrestlers have a much shorter lease. Is this racist? Probably not because I believe racism is an intentional act based on someone’s race. I think this is prejudice and bias based on how the game has always been.

This Bias is not unique to the WWE it is an issue that faces almost every facet of life in America. It is a bias that goes beyond African Americans, it effects Hispanics, Asians and Women. Can the WWE do better? Absolutely. Does the WWE have the means and talent to do better? Absolutely. Will the WWE do better mostly like not…..

http://www.wrestlingnewsworld.com/ Richard Gray

Thank you! This is the insight/analysis I could not provide

Scott Reynolds

Love the site keep up the good work.

Vic Jose

They should bring back the Nation!

Kevin Taylor

This is a fantastic, very eloquent response. As a minority myself (Latino + African-American) and lifelong wrestling fan, I couldn’t of said it any better myself.

morbo

Yes bray Wyatt and roman reigns are infinitely more talented than kofi Kingston and r-truth

Dave

Dismiss the world title as second tier and simultaneously bemoan the fact booker didn’t beat hhh for it. BS.

Michael

Booker T lost the title to HHH. He however did beat another MINORITY in Rey Mysterio to win his 6th championship.

Shawn White

Can we discuss how there are only 12 African American Wrestlers on the roster? And two are Booker T (retired) and Darren Young (injured)?

Can You Smell What the Rock is

Blacks are 13% of the country. They are actually OVER REPRESENTED in the WWE now.

Where are the Asian wrestlers?

jdl

A lack of pandering to a specific group is not racism. A lack of charismatic wrestlers of a specific race is not racism.

Also, The Atlantic is quite likely something of a rag, it’s out to get page views with a controversial subject that may, or may not, have any basis in reality. Don’t give it attention, you’ll only make the idiots who run it even more enthusiastically stupid.

Mike Brailsford

Agreeing with Scott how stereotypes unfortunately tend to rule, Irish wrestlers love to fight and have a temper, the Brits are pale tea drinking relatives of royalty and not to forget the old Japanese and Soviet gimmicks albeit most of them weren’t where they were portrayed from.

George

As an Asian/Pacific Islander I do take notice how WWE treats Asian wrestlers. Look back at Kai En Tai, to Jimmy Wang Yang and the recently Yoshi Tatsu. Taka was taken serious for a bit when the Light Heavyweight championship was a thing and then just became a jobber. Mick Foley even once commented that if the “WWE was about talent then Taka Michinoku would’ve been champion”. Then we go to his partner Funaki who was given the “Kung-Fu Naki” gimmick in his last stretch of the company. Jimmy Wang Yang was hyped for weeks when he was repackaged as some red neck Asian cowboy only to lose his first few matches, and Yoshi Tatsu who many top Japanese promotions want to sign now was not only a jobber the last couple years in WWE, but not even on the card. Granted it may just be more of Vince McMhaon’s physical bias for big men, but many Asian wrestlers I’ve seen in WWE is usually put in a stereotypical role, and eventually forgotten in the shuffle and released. Only one I’ve seen manage to break that curse was Batista due to his half Filipino heritage, but being big and muscular was probably also a factor along the fact that he didn’t look like others with Asian/Pacific Islander heritages. It’s like Vince McMhaon sees all these more little Asian wrestlers as a joke, stereotype, and eventual jobber with a “Future Endeavored” article waiting for them.

opie

“INDEED!”

George

“THEY ARE EEEEEEEVIL!”

Dave Barton

First, right off the bat, #2 and #3 apply to many many MANY white WWE wrestlers as well.

Second, there is a significantly smaller percentage of black pro wrestlers in the US than white pro wrestlers. Look at TNA, ROH, or any indy promotion. Same goes for Asian or Polynesian pro wrestlers in the US.

Third, its not like WWE could ever be accused of saying “Well, this black pro wrestler gets a tremendous reaction from the crowd & sells a ton of merchandise, but lets put the WWE Title on a random white pro wrestler who gets little to no reaction and doesn’t sell squat.”

Vic Jose

And how many white wrestlers on the roster don’t have any storylines or major roles? There’s a lot of them too, so it isn’t a race thing.

Roger

I want to go to WWE after I start attending wrestling school and finish college, but I’m well aware of the gimmick I’ll be handed and it won’t get me anymore in my career

Matthew Cobb

I’m sorry for how long this is but it was necessary to make my point:

All sorts of problems with this Atlantic article. First of all he acts like only black wrestlers are given stereotypical gimmicks. The character of arguably the most popular wrestler of all time, Stone Cold Steve Austin can be accurately described as a stereotypical texas redneck. What about Zeb Colter? What is he other than a stereotype of the Tea Party? Hell, Vince Mcmahon himself plays a stereotype of corporate bosses. The fact is that not all, but most, wrestling characters are based on stereotypes in one way or another.

This author brushes aside the Rock being one of the biggest stars of all time by essentially saying “oh he’s only part black”. Really? You’re writing an article calling out WWE for racism and you discount the Rock’s accomplishments because he isn’t black enough for you? Please.

He goes on about the World Heavyweight Championship being the “B” title and by the end it was, but there were several times when that belt was on the line in the closing main event of Wrestlemania. I would argue that at least up until around 2009-2010, the WWE title and World Title were more or less equal. And Booker T won the the World Title as King Booker with a theme song literally titled “Dead White Guys” and had two white wrestlers Finlay and Regal, as his subordinates. Talk about flipping stereotypes on their head.

Bobby Lashley probably would have been WWE champion at some point but he left the company.

The reason why the Rock is the only black WWE champion is because A. Out of the thousands people who have wrestled in WWE only 43 people in the company’s whole history have ever held that title at all, so it’s a fairly short list to start with. B. Unfortunately, black wrestlers have always been a very small part of the wrestling population in general. C. With the exception maybe of Booker T, it’s hard to make the case that any black wrestler mentioned in the article was ever truly popular enough to be considered the top guy or champion in the company. For example, Mark Henry has become much more entertaining over the years and I’m a fan of his, but he’s never been able to put on truly great matches, his main appeal has always been his size and he’s never been as popular or as well-rounded a performer as someone like The Rock, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, or even John Cena. Not to mention a lot of the gimmicks for some of the black wrestlers mentioned in the article aren’t solely WWE’s fault, Booker T already had his gimmick from WCW, R-Truth if I’m not mistaken has played more or less the same gimmick in every promotion he’s been in, and I believe Kofi Kingston was using the smiling jamaican gimmick prior to being signed by WWE as well.

Kofi Kingston is very talented and probably deserves a more prominent spot than he has right now and I do think Xavier Woods, Big E, and Titus O’ Neil are being underutilised as well, but many white performers like Dolph Ziggler and Damien Sandow are in the exact same boat. Finally there have been other minorities represented as WWE Champion, for example: Alberto Del Rio, Eddie Guerrero, Pedro’ Morales, Rey Mysterio (albeit for less than a day) and Yokozuna to name a few. So in order words, this guy while tripping into one or two valid points, is ultimately full of crap in my opinion because in nearly every case, there are legitimate reasons why the black wrestlers cited in the article have not been the WWE Champion, and there are plenty of talented performers of ALL races who have never held the WWE Title. If you want to cherry pick facts then yeah sure you make WWE out to be racists but if you look at the full picture then the charge of racism falls apart.

James Thornton

Took the words right out of my mouth. Especially about Lashley. He definitely would’ve been WWE Champion had he not left.

realityera2k14

Personally I feel like big e has the potential to be a world champion and I wonder if in response to these allegations they’ll start pushing a black wrestler ?

Lee McAndrew

I once had someone get annoyed with me a couple of decades ago because I said that there weren’t many black wrestlers around that had the skills necessary to carry a promotion like the WWE (then WWF). I still stand by what I said at the time, but now I feel that the landscape is very different. There are a number of talented black wrestlers out there who could do well given the opportunity (Jay Lethal being a prime example, he has been criminally overlooked).

The first black wrestler to really wow me was D-Lo Brown (although 2 Cold Scorpio was good as well). I think D-Lo could have gone far if the injury to Droz hadn’t occurred. Booker T was another great performer and managed to prove himself in both WCW and WWE.

Lee McAndrew

I personally think Vince is desperate to have a black powerhouse headline his promotion. Both Ahmed Johnson and Bobby Lashley were groomed for mega stardom, but allegedly their own egos/attitude worked against them. Vince seems keen on finding his black powerhouse megastar, his latest project is Big E Langston and good luck to the lad. It seemed to me at one point even Ezekiel Jackson was considered for this role, but that obviously came to nothing.

Fishcakes

Save for Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio [the last of which was 3 years ago], if you go back up the WWE Champions for ten years, _ten year_ you’ve just got white Americans, and the occasional Canadian. Ten years ago you hit Eddie Guerrero. Before him? White Americans and The Rock. Alllllll the way back another ten years+.

NOW more than ever, WWE is a global brand. I get that, back then, your audience was mostly America and Canada, and that’s where most of your talent was from. But it’s not now. Either of those things.

I think you can compare it to the comic book industry with great ease. It was once a total whitebread world. Writers, artists, characters and audience. But that has changed over time. However, sadly, the mindset remains that “this is how it has been, this is what works, we can’t change it.” We can’t put a belt on an African American, because it might not sell. We can’t make a British guy the champion because it might not work. And so you get stuck in a loop of White American Male being the champion, with the occasional Latino to pander to the large Mexican/hispanic audience. Repeat. Forever.

Non-White Americans are not lacking talent or ability. Non-Americans are not lacking in talent or ability. But WWE, like many businesses, are set in their ways and are fearful of change. “People won’t relate to a non-white, non-American lead! They’ll feel excluded!”

And, for some people, they are right.

I want to see an English world champion, I do. And Bulldog should have been. And Regal should have been. You can argue that, at the time, it was their own actions that caused the miss. Fine. Most wouldn’t argue there. But Barrett? And, in the future, Neville? If they aren’t given the title, that is not down to talent or skill or opportunity, because those guys will take advantage of everything they get. It’ll be down to WWE not having the confidence to put their main title on a non-White, non-American person. As we have seen constantly. And we repeatedly see with African Americans.

And at the end of the day, no change will be made. We are just shouting into the wind. Their patterns work for them. We watch. We buy the ppvs and we buy the merch. They have no financial incentive to change the pattern.

Your Demise

Regardless of WWE’s lack of black world champions, everyone has a choice what they want to be or choose as a career. There are plenty of sports that blacks dominate and just because WWE’s chooses not to have black champions does not mean a thing.

Were there great black wrestlers? Of course but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything if they don’t become WWE world champion or that they are out to degrade black people who ARE ALSO NOT MINORITIES anymore.

It sickens me to see how this person tries to dismiss the WHC making it seem that it didn’t matter that Mark Henry won it and that it is not on the same level as the WWE championship when many like myself has looked as it as such, mainly because it is part of the oldest lineage of world champions but unless you’re wrestling fan which the person clearly isn’t wouldn’t really care about lineages and whatnot, hect maybe not even the standard fan today but regardless it’s an ignorant comment as is the article itself.

If you want a real topic to discuss and WWE treating certain races like shit,
look at just about all the numerous japanese performers over the years aside from Yokozuna.
Talk about pigeon holding and turning certain people into stereotypes. Or how bout recently when they had Hunico (before he went back to being Sin Cara again) and that other guy come off as mexican gangsters?

Does anyone talk about that? WWE chooses who they want or how they want people to perceive some of their wrestlers NO MATTER WHAT RACE YOU ARE! They make sterotypes out of anyone that they seem that could fit the mold, it’s all in the gimmick thing, NOT A RACIAL one.

The article itself is just another one that’s stating black people aren’t getting enough attention because of x reason. Whatever happen to the days of people just talking about wrestlers ability or lack thereof? Or what separates a good match from a shitty one? There are lots of topics to choose from but instead here is yet another topic based on race which I really hate. You don’t like the position are in or the lifestyle you have, then change it. Go pursue another career and stop bitching. This idea that WWE is holding black wrestlers or “african americans” is just another way to garner some sort of attention so people can feel sorry for them. Forget all that. There are lots of promotions they can go to if they aren’t happy with how they are perceived as and speaking of which…..over in Japan which is one of the most respected countries because of not only their history but their high regard for ACTUAL wrestling in general and not giving out shitty gimmicks. One of the most popular wrestlers ever was named Bob Sapp aka The Beast. If you don’t know who he is, look it up. Not to mention he is became the first ever black IWGP champion. A title that has been more meaningful than the WWF/E title (My opinion) in the past 10 years despite CM Punks long reign. I say that because you wouldn’t know he was since WWE more likely Vince was still putting Cena in nearly every main event. It was great to see Bryan win the title but due to unforeseen circumstances, he never got a chance to make a run with it.

Another thing that needs to be brought up for those with short term memory loss. When WWE decided to bring ECW or WWECW back, they had a number of world champions that were black. TNA always refers to Bobby Lashley being a former WORLD CHAMPION before he recently became one! Was it on the same level as both the WWE and WHC? Perhaps not but it WAS A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP and if you they guy did his research instead of making an irrational topic like this, you would know that even the last WWECW World Champion for the was indeed black in Ezekial Jackson. Despite if the brand did not last long it needs to be worth noting.

So let me ask, who wrote the article? A black person right?

The guy clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about and just wants attention knowing that well known wrestling sites like this will post it where it gets people talking.

I’ve already said my piece on where I stand with blacks in wrestling so the only thing I’ll add is that it seems that alot of black people are never happy with anything and always have find something to bitch about. It’s not enough that they dominate just about all fields of entertainment from music to the NFL, NBA, MLB and there’s starting to gain a number of players in Hockey, all the while making millions of dollars poisoning peoples minds with that shitty music. Not to mention that just about all NFL players that run into problems with the league and law always find a way to come back because if not, it would be problem. Just recently after 4 damn chances they finally kicked Tanard Jacksons bitch ass out. It’s not a sport anymore, it’s a playground for criminals to also make lots of money.

It seems that when something doesn’t go a certain number of black peoples way, they want to always want to pull the race card but fail to realize again without doing any significant research that it’s not just black people WWE stereotypes (as mentioned) and besides once again if you don’t like what you are doing, there are lots of stuff to watch that has that number of black people getting the attention they so desperately want. I get sick of hearing how racist certain places are just because certain black people says so.

The only thing the article proves is who are the true racist is because let me tell you and it’s something alot do not want to hear but there are more black people that are racist in this country than any other types. I live in MD, about 20 min from DC and have lived in many states throughout my life and have witnessed it first hand. If you don’t believe me then do some research.

How many times do black people stereotype whites? Better yet how many comics do this or even how many shows? You can’t even count the amount of times Keegan and Peele did this. It may have come off as funny to some but it was and still is distasteful .Even at last years BET award this was shown. I refused to watch that bs this year because I refuse to watch pure ignorance.

Anyone that condones this article should gather their facts and think for themselves before agreeing with
it but even that maybe to much to ask.

Vince

31416
I do not believe the company is racist but I do believe they are very old fashioned. For example Big E coming in and being pushed in a way Kofi Kingston hasn’t been with even Richard saying on a few occasions that Big E is seen as someone with a higher ceiling in the WWE. Now these are two African Americans and one is favored for a possible main event role over the other and I believe it is because of the look. Vince McMahon the true decision maker has always been hesistant to push smaller skinnier guys because a big tough looking guy is the wrestler people will pay to see. When a gamble is not needed he goes with what works (i.e John Cena). And while I do have an issue with the lack of minority title holders there have been many minorities in prominent storylines the same way many Caucasian wrestlers have been embarrassed, degraded, etc (of course after agreeing but the idea remains…ie HBK kiss my a** club). We complain about Ziggler, Ryder, Bryan, even Damion Sandow not being pushed or used correctly and we simply blame creative. If they were minorities would we place blame differently? I’m not a WWE employee so I will likely never know for sure but from the outside looking in aside from a few valid points I do not believe there to be discrimination in the company and thats said as an African American young man. HEY THEY JUST HAD KEVIN HART ON!

live1213

Vince is not a racist the storyline to get a black man to the world championship may be Vince want say or ask I need u to act like a Black thug, a black uneducated fool, or a angry black man but if he can find that person he will run the storyline (Remember Jackie Robinson wasn’t the best black baseball player he was the best one that could take what he would have to go through) It would take a black man that would get backlash if he play that role to do that. The Rock being part Somoan promote that part of him more which WWE likes Mark Henry have played the fool Sexy chocolate and the Angry black man role. Bobby Lashley even know a Black world champion and a bad guy don’t play the Angry black man role cudos to TNA.

JR Texx (Jamie)

I have this to say, I have seen more African-Americans become world champ than Non-Americans, (Do you count Canadians as American, I don’t know) but, the only one I can think of is Sheamus.

Devansh Kotak

he was a wwe champ wasnt he.. point is no african american was ever a wwe champ

JR Texx (Jamie)

that wasn’t my point…

Devansh Kotak

the thing being is that there are more non americans as wwe champions than african americans.. rock is half black.. so excluding half raced

morbo

Maybe someone should stop and consider that maybe thee guy has never really been black is because quite simply, none of them have been good enough… Not everything needs to be analysed like this… Someone could easily come up and say that fifa have a race problem because no Polynesian team have ever been at the world cup, i our sports a scripted one but the rules apply, if you’re not good enough, you wont be successful, i dont want this to offend anybody but if you are actually offended, suppose that’s your problem, not a racist here, i just don’t assume the absolute worst, if wwe has a race problem then explain the Hispanic wwe champions, the rock is half samoan, half black, booker T considered one of the best of all time, iron sheik, pedro Morales, non white performers have always been present wwe more now than ever has a diverse group of ethnicities working for them and stereotypes never stopped the likes of sheamus, regal, Guerrero who’s gimmick realistically was very offensive and well loved, because it worked, if a stereotypical gimmick works it works i.e. Sheamus but if it doesn’t the stereotypes are gained, as a side note as an Irish person sheamus’s gimmick is very very stereotypical, if anything Vince gets a kick out of lighthearted casual racism that he expresses in gimmicks but a lot of decent people have that humour regardless of race, but Vince a racist? Not a hope

morbo

Why doesn’t someone accuse the Atlantic of reverse racism? He only mentions black people, gets a word in about other “minorities” (awful term) but fails to mention the stereotypical Austin southerner gimmick, sheamus’s stereotypical Irish gimmick, regals old commissioner gimmick, which could all be considered offensive, on a side note isnt it racist to call everyone who isn’t a white a minority? Kind of creates the idea that its white people and then everyone else

http://www.braysballtalk.com/ Aaron Giddens

I don’t buy it. Everything the article mentions has happened to wrestlers of every race at one point or another. It’s not racism, it’s just the way the business is. Sick of this affirmative action drivel.

Can You Smell What the Rock is

The Rock.

Entire article destroyed.

Can You Smell What the Rock is

Roughly 100 WWE wrestlers, managers, announcers. 14 are black. Blacks make up 13% of the population. WWE right in line with demographics. Great job WWE!

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